The Happytime Murders Is A Sad, Poorly Stuffed Film

If there is one for media that I feel doesn’t get enough love in pop culture it’s the art of puppeteering. Growing up I was huge fan of The Muppets, and would watch anything related to Jim Henson, even if his son Brian made it.

Sadly, riding on someone‘s legacy isn’t always a guarantee for success. It only gets you so far and I gotta say that the most recent offering from the heir to the Muppet legacy wasn’t much to write home about it. I am not sure what to say about The Happytime Murders.

The Happytime Murders takes place in a world where puppets coexist with humans as second-class citizens, puppet private investigator Phil Philips (Bill Barretta) reunites with his ex-partner Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) to find a serial killer who murdered Phil’s brother. The killer is now targeting the cast members of the 1980s television series The Happytime Gang, and Phil’s former flame, Jenny (Elizabeth Banks), is next on the list. It’s up to Phil and Edwards to find the culprit, but as bad blood and old resentments resurface the clues start pointing to the only viable suspect, Phil himself. Now he’s on the run with only his wits and hardheaded determination.

The things I enjoyed were done well enough; director Brian Henson shot the movie fairly well, but there were no standout cinematic scenes to reference.

The puppeteer talent was movie’s real strength. Legends like Bill Barretta, Kevin Clash and many others of The Jim Henson Company lend their voices and performing skills to the various roles that they fill. This was credit to the director’s notoriety, casting voice actors (and in this case puppeteers) as opposed to established on screen actors to fill the roles of the off screen cast.

The human actors ranged from over the top to “I’m just here to get paid”; Elizabeth Banks, Joel McHale, Maya Rudolph, Leslie David Baker and Melissa McCarthy did not bring their A game this time around.

Jokes were okay, but they were mostly lowbrow toilet humor geared at the lowest common denominator (who probably won’t watch this) and I shrugged most of them off. The plot was predictable, and the music was nothing special. I really wanted to like this, but it wasn’t even trying where it counted and that lack of effort never bodes well.

If you want the premise that this movie is trying to convey done right, watch Avenue Q or the old Fox TV show Greg the Bunny.

I give The Happytime Murders (STX Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company, R, 1hr 31mins) a 2 out of  5.